The 2012 BAFTA Awards (Live Blog)

The BAFTAs, the biggest night in the British Film calendar, was mostly an unsurprising affair withThe Artistdeservedly cleaning up with seven wins including Best Film, Best Leading Actor, Best Screenplay and Best Director. That sets the pace ahead of the Oscars where it’s likely to do similar business with only Alexander Payne’s The Descendants as a likely competitor.

It was nice to see Senna get the recognition it deserves especially considering it was completely snubbed by The Academy for an Oscar nomination. It was also good to see Paddy Considine got some praise for Tyrannosaur, although Olivia Colman was still notably absent for a nomination for Best Actress. That went to Meryl Streep for her portrayal of Thatcher in The Iron Lady– a great performance in a rubbish film – personally I would have liked to have seen it go to Tilda Swinton for her haunted performance in We Need To Talk About Kevin which has also been snubbed by The Academy.

In fact, The Academy seem to have gone especially crazy this year and the only thing they’ve got right with the BAFTA panel haven’t is a nomination for Emmanuel Lubezki for The Tree Of Life – a truly outstanding visual master who’s oddly missing from the Bafta line-up.

Speaking of masters, it was a real pleasure to see the long overdue BAFTA Fellowship go to the great Martin Scorsese who appeared to be visibly moved for receiving British film-making’s highest award and to see John Hurt receive an award for Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema.

The only real surprise was the Orange Wednesdays Rising Star Award which went to Adam Deacon – proof that the public shouldn’t get a say in anything.